The South Pacific Restaurant and Guam Outpost (opened in 1954 by Wayne C. Sit), was a pre-tiki establishment located in the Loop in downtown Chicago.

Incredible neon signage created by the White Way sign company of Chicago.

You would enter this downstairs restaurant through a foyer with a tiki and a splashing fountain. Beaded curtains separated the cocktail lounge from the long dining room. Glass panels in the ceiling lit the room. Lots of greenery and a huge fake tree along one wall.

Lunch and dinner were served 7 days a week.

Closed in 1981.

Wayne C. Sit died in 2006 at the age of 88.

*NOTE: The below photo depicts Sit’s nephew Tom Go in 1962.

Joseph Stephenson "Steve" Crane (February 7, 1916 – February 6, 1985) was an American actor and restaurateur. A Columbia Pictures actor in the early 1940s, Crane opened the Luau, a popular celebrity restaurant in Beverly Hills, in 1953 and established a successful 25-year career in the restaurant industry. Steve also owned the Kon-Tiki chain in Sheratons, and Ports-o-Call restaurants.

In addition to his own accomplishments, Crane is often remembered as Lana Turner's twice ex-husband and the father of her only child Cheryl. Steve's first marriage to Turner in 1942 was annulled when it was discovered he was not divorced from his first wife. Turner then married Steve again in 1943 because she was expecting a child.

The El Mirador Hotel operated from 1928 to 1972.

The name "El Mirador" is taken from the pre-Columbian Mayan Ruin in Guatemala but there was never a Mayan theme at this location. It just lent an air of exoticism. Built by Palm Springs pioneer Prescott Thresher Stevens at a cost of $1 million, and designed by Los Angeles architects Walker & Eisen, the hotel’s 20 acres included an Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts, stables, the desert’s first golf course, and a striking Spanish-Colonial Revival-style bell tower that became a city landmark.

This hotel underwent a remodel and in 1952, opened their South Pacific Room, which showcased Tahitian dancers, “Island Serenaders” and a Polynesian buffet. In advertisements, it encouraged guests to “go native” and had luaus every Thursday.

This site is now home to the Desert Regional Medical Center.

This establishment touts itself as Rome's first tiki bar.

Camillo Affinita and Alessio Esposito (along with their partners Alessandro and Marco) opened up Makai in November of 2016.

They feature a signature mug and other barware made by Maka-Tiki as well.

This speakeasy style nautical bar is adjacent to (and owned by) Hula's Modern Tiki in uptown Phoenix and also opened in 2018. Look for the unmarked porthole door outside.

From Hula's Modern Tiki website:

"Set sail from HULA'S Phoenix every Thursday - Saturday from 6pm to close, step through the porthole door to explore, and let the waves carry you away to The Captain's Cabin, where a late ’40s era Tahitian sailor’s bar meets the modern day craft cocktail lounge. It's the perfect spot to savor HULA’S “Uku Nui” Cocktail Menu (which means “premium” in Hawaiian); hand-shaken with fresh squeezed juices and housemade bitters and syrups. Plus, sip & savor HULA’S Rum Flights, allowing you to take your taste buds on a self-guided tropical tour of some of the world’s finest rums. Truth is, you never know what kind of craft cocktail shenanigan's "The Captain" might be up to!"

Hours: Friday & Saturday, 6pm to Close

This bar has only a few tiki decorations and is overwhelmingly nautical but it is a fun themed space adjacent to Hula's. PRO TIP: It does not have bathrooms, so you may have to step back into Hula's next door. Plan accordingly.

The Chi Chi opened in 1936 as the Desert Grill. Eventually, Jack Freeman sold his financial interest in the profitable eatery to his business partner, Irwin Schuman, who revamped it as a fancy Polynesian-style restaurant and bar.

Schuman christened his new venture Chi Chi Grill Cocktail Lounge in 1938 — inspired by an exotic portrait of a topless Hawaiian girl painted by Edgar Leeteg he’d seen in an art gallery on a trip to Honolulu.

Credit for the club’s name also has been attributed to Palm Springs artist Jack Church, who reportedly dubbed the painting “the Chi Chi girl” because of her sexy expression. For good luck, Schuman displayed a copy of Leeteg’s portrait, Hina Rapa, on the wall of his cocktail lounge. Onlookers found the image of the smiling native girl so captivating that Schuman blithely had it reprinted on cocktail napkins, dishware, glasses, matchbooks, swizzle sticks, menus, and playing cards. These dinner-table items quickly became prized souvenirs.

“I did not give Chi Chi permission to use my Hina Rapa to reproduce in any way,” complained Leeteg in an angry letter from his home in Tahiti. “The least they could do is to give me a credit line, but that is too much to expect from a Hollywood gin mill.”

The unexpected controversy helped publicize the tropical-themed restaurant; and Schuman opened a second Chi Chi bar in 1946 on Santa Catalina Island. More locations followed in Riverside, Hollywood, Long Beach, and San Diego.

The media described this giant supper club as “The second biggest nightclub west of the Mississippi,” where some of the brightest names in showbiz gathered for more than 25 years.

Practically any New York and Las Vegas headliner that ever took a bow performed at the Chi Chi in its heyday: song and dance pioneers such as Eddie Cantor, Sophie Tucker, Rudy Vallee, the Ritz Brothers, Lena Horne, and Mickey Rooney, along with virtuoso performers such as Tony Martin, Jane Russell, Hoagy Carmichael, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, and Peggy Lee.

The Chi Chi lasted until 1977 when it was torn down and replaced by The Desert Fashion Plaza.

The South Seas Tiki Lounge was a tiki bar in Charleston, South Carolina, opened in July 2017.

The small space had outdoor seating, with an interior lounge. The menu included tropical drinks and small plates.

Owner Jonathan Buckley (owner of the nearby Scarecrow & Co.) is a longtime tikiphile with a large tiki mug collection that was displayed in the bar.

They received rave reviews for their cocktail program and seemed to be doing vey well. However, on January 3, 2019, South Seas posted on Instagram that they were closing up their Ann Street spot, which included both the tiki lounge and sushi bar.

Their IG caption read, “Thanks Charleston, it’s time to wrap things up here and move our Tiki Collection to a New City."

Buckley later stated that the section of the building they were in was always defined as a space for semi-permanent pop-ups and that the plan was always to eventually close down and move to a new location outside of Charleston.

Moon Kim owned the Silver Spring restaurant that became Luau Hut, originally called Moon's Garden, which served Korean food. She met (and fell in love with) Paul Malonson, who had been maitre d' at the Trader Vic's in Washington, D.C. He inspired her to go Polynesian with her restaurant in 1964. It was elaborately decorated, and immensely popular. They soon opened locations in Washington, D.C., first on Capitol Hill, and another short-lived one near Dupont Circle. Luau Hut lasted through at least 1984, the building still stands but has been remodeled beyond recognition.

The South Seas Cocktail Lounge opened in early 2015 on the waterfront in Hobart, on the Australia's island state of Tasmania.

The bar was small, and slightly tucked away, with windows blacked out (hooray!). Though small, space had plenty of tropical decor, including pieces by Witco and Bosko, and some large-scale quality tiki carvings. The focus was on quality classic tropical cocktails, and there was a large and growing rum selection.

Closed in 2018.

This smaller version of a Trader Vic's opened in May 2014 in the Hilton Al Hamra Beach & Golf Resort. It wasn't a full restaurant, but it did offer small plates of food and a full bar. There was indoor seating and an outdoor lanai.

Closed @2021.

The Shameful Tiki Room opened on November 17, 2015, and is in the Parkdale neighborhood of Toronto. It is the sister location of The Shameful Tiki Room in Vancouver, B.C., which opened in 2013. Both locations are owned by Rod Moore.

The bar has a capacity of 70 people, and has a semi-secluded raised "Christian's Hut" area, in tribute to the historic Christian's Hut in Southern California in the 1930s. Classic exotic cocktails and pu-pu platter items are available, prepared and presented in the traditional style. The soundtrack is a mix of Exotica and surf.

On April 25th, 2025 The Shameful Tiki Room announced through social media that they would be changing locations. Their final night at 1378 Queen Street West was May 27th, 2025.

They re-opened just down the road at 777 Queen Street West on June 9th, 2025.

Trader Sam's Grog Grotto opened at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort in 2015. It is the sister of Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar, found at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. Like the bar in Anaheim, the Grog Grotto is a twin tribute to both the Enchanted Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise attractions. It is densely decorated and intensely themed, just as you would hope to find in a Disney tiki bar.

Like the Jungle Cruise, the crew members at the Grog Grotto are trained to give you a theatrical, goofy, fun experience. Some drink orders trigger special effects around the room (order a Polynesian Pearl and watch your bartender retrieve your pearl from a large clamshell), and several drinks are served in souvenir mugs. The decor is a mix of tiki and nautical, with some nods to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and also includes pieces left over from the old Adventurer's Club that used to be part of Downtown Disney in Orlando. The menu is limited, with several small plates. There is also outdoor seating at the adjacent, relatively lightly-themed Tiki Terrace.

The Grog Grotto was added as part of a big refresh of the Polynesian Village Resort in 2015.

Children are welcome at the Grog Grotto during the day, but after 8pm it is only open to those 21 and older.